Luke, I’m a little bit behind the time curve on some of these articles and catching up but I think you have hit the nail on the head in a balanced way. Enzo needs support but he doesn’t seem to be getting it in a logical and seamless way. I have been one of the less critical People on this blog in respect of the sporting directors. I have felt for some time that Clearwater have been driving a lot of the decision-making and they are in fact puppets. I have said elsewhere that it’s time for them to grow some balls and stand up to Clearwater and say, you’ve employed us to do a job now let us do it! Bottomley I think we need Todd to be involved to much greater extent. He has the experience with buying major sporting franchises, he understands the fans and he gets a big picture. We can only hope that this will unfold in a positive manner between now and the summer but I don’t really think we will make the Champions League this year now having been positive, we would(I’m also a glass half full guy) and in reality I’m not I don’t think we’re good enough for CL.
For me the atmosphere in the club has turned a little Toxic with one or two players demanding minutes they havent done enough to deserve.
A couple of Matchs ago I think it was the Morecombe cup match is saw the 2 players who seem to be agitating the most ie.. Felix & Nkunku deliberating avoiding to pass to Guiu in case he scored and looked better than them, well that was my interpretation.
In addition injuries have caught up with us again with the backline wrecked and still the manager wont play Chilwell as backup to Cucerella.
The subs bench isnt full of players that can change a game as they broady are on the pitch its full of players who you bring on to see the last 15 minutes out when your 3-0 up.
If i was Maresca I would do the following :
Change the formation to 541.
Goalie Here I'd recall Petrovic and send Sanchez to Strabourg on loan.
Backline Cucerella Colwill Acheampong Chalobah James
Midfield Sancho Caicedo Enzo Palmer
Striker Jackson
Subs Jorgenson Gusto Neto Madueke Guiu and a couple of Academy players.
That would make us more solid and get our best players on the pitch.
Re player purchases I've given up believing the SD's know what they are doing a year ago so dont expect any elite purchases this window.so mt previous comments are what i would do to make the best of a bad situation.
Why would you be "over the moon" with 1 point off 4th place, when we finished 6th last season. Surely, with the money we've spent, that would be the absolute minimum you should expect this season?
It would be so simple to just recall Petrovic and Santos and solve two of the three problems we currently have in the squad. If there's a deal to be done with Villa for Duran/Disasi/Felix, then go and do that in the last week of the window. They're clearly completely inept
Some really good points made Luke. I have heard a lot about Chelsea players being tired which I find puzzling as we have or had an A and B team and from what I have watched we have been out worked in a lot of games. Seven of City’s team played in the Champions League midweek but they out ran us in the second half and they are older. We were almost apologetic after the first goal and just let them dominate the game. They are not the treble winning team they were. Our midfield (defensive) is frighteningly thin. I cannot believe we still have so many issues with the squad. I hope I’m wrong but if we finish 6th or below which at the moment looks very likely we won’t be able to keep Cole Palmer.
I felt the same Nick, when people were discussing Caicedo last week and how tired he looked, I ran the figures compared to last season at this stage and he’s played less minutes this season…..
You wonder if it’s as much mental fatigue as physical. Maybe they are just not fit which is unforgivable. Too many look unhappy and don’t want to be there. Caicedo is one of a few players I can’t criticise much because most of the time we have a two man midfield and Fernandez can’t defend and runs out of legs at about 65 minutes leaving Caicedo too much to do. He not Kante yet. I wish we still had him.
Hi Luke, great post and I agree with all of what you have said. My only addition would be that if you are going to hold the players to high standards, than you have to sit Sanchez down, or it undermines Maresca’s ability to manage the rest of the team effectively.
I’m a Maresca fan like you are, and while not perfect, the majority of his issues are because he is getting no help from those above him, not in the squad composition and having to play Sanchez when clearly not warranted.
6 days to right the ship for the SD’s, to not get a midfielder would be the last straw for me. Razor thin depth, running Caicedo and Enzo into the ground, and no reliable defensive substitute. By the way, Who plays for those 2 when they come back late from World Cup qualifiers in March???
I’ll reserve full judgement to the end of the window, hopefully there is so action to come.
Luke, I think Enzo is in the position not to insist or require anything from SDs or management. He agreed to manage the squad by following orders coming from above. His input weights almost nothing when needing to fix the squad with missing players or players that underperform. Especially about Sanchez, just thinking someone else is making the calls not him. It's so obvious.
Maybe Kris, but nobody was saying that the first few months of the season, it’s easy to jump on that bandwagon now! He was showing signs of being anything but a yes man.
i think another point is that we look physically shot and we are only around the half way mark. Most of them didnt even travel for Conf. league as we had a B team. I just hope we did not tone down our training / running just so we dont look bad with injuries this season.
We and every analyst with half a coherent thought in their head have been saying for over 2 years that we need a striker and a keeper yet we've not got them.
Our club is no longer run with the vision of doing what it takes to be at the top. The current vision has profit first and hoping winning goes along with that. The culture at the club has been eroded in to an overstaffed, underqualified circus of expensive suits.
Roman wouldn't have stood for this, I miss him. Unless either Boehly or Eghbali begin to show signs of having a spine and take steps to put the right people in place to deliver us success and a clear direction, then they should sell us.
I, like many, believe the SD's are the primary issue right now. The only ones in a position to fix that are the owners and as of now they are not. Their inaction is tantamount to complicity.
No doubt, I believe that is true, however I think they've come in and spent over a billion and are now expecting a return on their investment which isn't coming as we need to spend even more now in order to secure champions league football and they seem reluctant to do so. Makes me wonder why.
Now they want to make PSR swap deals and "opportunities" to take advantage of the system and make money. They also continually overvalue our players to the point where the only options we have are to loan them out without obligations while their true value decreases as their contracts wind down. Nobody in their right mind is paying £40m for Carney for example. Lower that to 20-30 and we could sell him, but instead he's rotting on the sidelines, as his value decreases and it makes zero sense. Same can be said for other players too.
I agree 100%, but I also think a lot of those other clubs aren't in the position we're currently in where we have so many players to offload while also being in such a position where we are desperate for 3 pivotal positions that could make or break this season and future seasons.
If you have to take a small hit on some of the players we are desperate to offload like Disasi, Chilwell, Carney etc in order to bring in a £60m+ striker or CB, then do it because that small hit will pale in comparison to the hit we'll take without CL football and yet another year without a solid front of shirt sponsor.
I mostly agree and well said Luke! All I’ll say is on the point about Maresca backing Sanchez - from what I’ve seen on X, Maresca is making his feelings known to the directors about Sanchez behind the scenes. He clearly just doesn’t agree with being too critical of Sanchez publicly, maybe because of how much a confidence position keeper is? He probably just thinks it doesn’t help anyone. Of course, that doesn’t excuse the fact that he hasn’t dropped him. I’d be very disappointed if he starts against West Ham.
The way I see it, Jorgensen more than deserves a shot, whether he’s any good or not remains to be seen as he’s never had a run. You can’t tell too much from the odd game here and there. If he’s shit then you can say there’s not much between them
Luke, I’m a little bit behind the time curve on some of these articles and catching up but I think you have hit the nail on the head in a balanced way. Enzo needs support but he doesn’t seem to be getting it in a logical and seamless way. I have been one of the less critical People on this blog in respect of the sporting directors. I have felt for some time that Clearwater have been driving a lot of the decision-making and they are in fact puppets. I have said elsewhere that it’s time for them to grow some balls and stand up to Clearwater and say, you’ve employed us to do a job now let us do it! Bottomley I think we need Todd to be involved to much greater extent. He has the experience with buying major sporting franchises, he understands the fans and he gets a big picture. We can only hope that this will unfold in a positive manner between now and the summer but I don’t really think we will make the Champions League this year now having been positive, we would(I’m also a glass half full guy) and in reality I’m not I don’t think we’re good enough for CL.
Broadly agree Luke..
For me the atmosphere in the club has turned a little Toxic with one or two players demanding minutes they havent done enough to deserve.
A couple of Matchs ago I think it was the Morecombe cup match is saw the 2 players who seem to be agitating the most ie.. Felix & Nkunku deliberating avoiding to pass to Guiu in case he scored and looked better than them, well that was my interpretation.
In addition injuries have caught up with us again with the backline wrecked and still the manager wont play Chilwell as backup to Cucerella.
The subs bench isnt full of players that can change a game as they broady are on the pitch its full of players who you bring on to see the last 15 minutes out when your 3-0 up.
If i was Maresca I would do the following :
Change the formation to 541.
Goalie Here I'd recall Petrovic and send Sanchez to Strabourg on loan.
Backline Cucerella Colwill Acheampong Chalobah James
Midfield Sancho Caicedo Enzo Palmer
Striker Jackson
Subs Jorgenson Gusto Neto Madueke Guiu and a couple of Academy players.
That would make us more solid and get our best players on the pitch.
Re player purchases I've given up believing the SD's know what they are doing a year ago so dont expect any elite purchases this window.so mt previous comments are what i would do to make the best of a bad situation.
Luke,
Why would you be "over the moon" with 1 point off 4th place, when we finished 6th last season. Surely, with the money we've spent, that would be the absolute minimum you should expect this season?
Totally agree
Needs to sharpen up his in game tactics & subs
It would be so simple to just recall Petrovic and Santos and solve two of the three problems we currently have in the squad. If there's a deal to be done with Villa for Duran/Disasi/Felix, then go and do that in the last week of the window. They're clearly completely inept
Some really good points made Luke. I have heard a lot about Chelsea players being tired which I find puzzling as we have or had an A and B team and from what I have watched we have been out worked in a lot of games. Seven of City’s team played in the Champions League midweek but they out ran us in the second half and they are older. We were almost apologetic after the first goal and just let them dominate the game. They are not the treble winning team they were. Our midfield (defensive) is frighteningly thin. I cannot believe we still have so many issues with the squad. I hope I’m wrong but if we finish 6th or below which at the moment looks very likely we won’t be able to keep Cole Palmer.
I felt the same Nick, when people were discussing Caicedo last week and how tired he looked, I ran the figures compared to last season at this stage and he’s played less minutes this season…..
You wonder if it’s as much mental fatigue as physical. Maybe they are just not fit which is unforgivable. Too many look unhappy and don’t want to be there. Caicedo is one of a few players I can’t criticise much because most of the time we have a two man midfield and Fernandez can’t defend and runs out of legs at about 65 minutes leaving Caicedo too much to do. He not Kante yet. I wish we still had him.
Hi Luke, great post and I agree with all of what you have said. My only addition would be that if you are going to hold the players to high standards, than you have to sit Sanchez down, or it undermines Maresca’s ability to manage the rest of the team effectively.
I’m a Maresca fan like you are, and while not perfect, the majority of his issues are because he is getting no help from those above him, not in the squad composition and having to play Sanchez when clearly not warranted.
6 days to right the ship for the SD’s, to not get a midfielder would be the last straw for me. Razor thin depth, running Caicedo and Enzo into the ground, and no reliable defensive substitute. By the way, Who plays for those 2 when they come back late from World Cup qualifiers in March???
I’ll reserve full judgement to the end of the window, hopefully there is so action to come.
Completely agree with you mate
Luke, I think Enzo is in the position not to insist or require anything from SDs or management. He agreed to manage the squad by following orders coming from above. His input weights almost nothing when needing to fix the squad with missing players or players that underperform. Especially about Sanchez, just thinking someone else is making the calls not him. It's so obvious.
Maybe Kris, but nobody was saying that the first few months of the season, it’s easy to jump on that bandwagon now! He was showing signs of being anything but a yes man.
I'm losing faith in Maresca Luke.
Poor game management and he's been outwitted since Everton away.
He has not utilised the squad at all.
All it needed was a little tweaking from game to game, to keep everyone happy..He blew it!.
Sanchez must be done now, yet Jorgensen is not the answer in anyway shape or form. As we will soon see.
I won't hold my breath over the last 5 days of the window, with those pair tossers doing the recruitment.
We're in a Top 8 fight now, prepare for a lot more pain!
i think another point is that we look physically shot and we are only around the half way mark. Most of them didnt even travel for Conf. league as we had a B team. I just hope we did not tone down our training / running just so we dont look bad with injuries this season.
I’m not sure I fully agree but see your points, I’m not convinced by many of our regular subs, none of them to me have warranted trust from Maresca.
Sadly our owners are blind to this.
We and every analyst with half a coherent thought in their head have been saying for over 2 years that we need a striker and a keeper yet we've not got them.
Our club is no longer run with the vision of doing what it takes to be at the top. The current vision has profit first and hoping winning goes along with that. The culture at the club has been eroded in to an overstaffed, underqualified circus of expensive suits.
Roman wouldn't have stood for this, I miss him. Unless either Boehly or Eghbali begin to show signs of having a spine and take steps to put the right people in place to deliver us success and a clear direction, then they should sell us.
I, like many, believe the SD's are the primary issue right now. The only ones in a position to fix that are the owners and as of now they are not. Their inaction is tantamount to complicity.
I think that slightly contradicts itself, because the best way for them to make profit instantly is finishing in Champions League places
No doubt, I believe that is true, however I think they've come in and spent over a billion and are now expecting a return on their investment which isn't coming as we need to spend even more now in order to secure champions league football and they seem reluctant to do so. Makes me wonder why.
Now they want to make PSR swap deals and "opportunities" to take advantage of the system and make money. They also continually overvalue our players to the point where the only options we have are to loan them out without obligations while their true value decreases as their contracts wind down. Nobody in their right mind is paying £40m for Carney for example. Lower that to 20-30 and we could sell him, but instead he's rotting on the sidelines, as his value decreases and it makes zero sense. Same can be said for other players too.
I agree mate, however a lot of clubs overvalue their players now due to the PSR rules
I agree 100%, but I also think a lot of those other clubs aren't in the position we're currently in where we have so many players to offload while also being in such a position where we are desperate for 3 pivotal positions that could make or break this season and future seasons.
If you have to take a small hit on some of the players we are desperate to offload like Disasi, Chilwell, Carney etc in order to bring in a £60m+ striker or CB, then do it because that small hit will pale in comparison to the hit we'll take without CL football and yet another year without a solid front of shirt sponsor.
I mostly agree and well said Luke! All I’ll say is on the point about Maresca backing Sanchez - from what I’ve seen on X, Maresca is making his feelings known to the directors about Sanchez behind the scenes. He clearly just doesn’t agree with being too critical of Sanchez publicly, maybe because of how much a confidence position keeper is? He probably just thinks it doesn’t help anyone. Of course, that doesn’t excuse the fact that he hasn’t dropped him. I’d be very disappointed if he starts against West Ham.
I see that mate
The way I see it, Jorgensen more than deserves a shot, whether he’s any good or not remains to be seen as he’s never had a run. You can’t tell too much from the odd game here and there. If he’s shit then you can say there’s not much between them